Wines From India

September 05 : While it may be debatable whether the UK Supermarket chains Waitrose is the first to put Indian wines on the shelf but the export is like the first step of a baby boy, if one believes in what the experts in the UK market opine, writes Subhash Arora who and many other producers believe that privately that it is very challenging to sell wines costing over £5 in the price sensitive UK market.

The Viognier will be sold at £6.99 while the Syrah will cost a discounted £8.49. The Waitrose website showed it at £10.99 last week but it has since been discounted by 20%.This deal obviously bodes well for the Indian wine industry as it would give an added exposure to the Indian wines. Indian Grape Processing Board had taken part at the London Wine Show in May this year and several Indian companies including Four Seasons and Zampa had participated in the maiden attempt in London. Wines from India stand had quite an appreciative set of visitors who were reportedly even pleasantly surprised to know that India had in fact a wine industry.

Robert should know. He is producing wine in South of France in partnership with Kevin Shaw and the well known producer Hugh Ryman, (who incidentally makes Maison Pierre for Sula) two labels- Le Grande Noir and Greener Planet. ‘We are a small producer with total sales of a million bottles of Le Grand Noir and 350,000 bottles of the Planet. With great difficulties we have been able to make a break-through in UK but the quantities we sell at the discounted retail price of £7.50 are extremely small. We know that if the price is brought down by a pound, the sales will pick up significantly and at £5 retail, they will fly.’ Showing me an iPod App he tells me that currently the retailer’s gross margins is 47% but will come down to 7% at the retail price of £5 which is obviously not workable.

London based Gerd Stepp who was the president of my jury panel at the MundusVini competition last week, has been working full-time with Mark and Spencer for a decade and is now their consultant. He is the winemaker who used to work with the wine suppliers to the British supermarket chain and department stores. Not willing to comment on the prospects for Indian wines, he was however; quite confident that any wine selling for over £5 has a limited market in the supermarkets, including Waitrose.

Indian Wines in the UK Supermarkets - Indian Wine Academy

Daily Mail reported.   "The quality of Indian wine has improved a great deal over the last five years with investment and expertise pouring into the industry," said Matt Smith, who has bought the wines for the supermarket.

Daily Mail reported.   "The quality of Indian wine has improved a great deal over the last five years with investment and expertise pouring into the industry," said Matt Smith, who has bought the wines for the supermarket.   "India has some ideal regions for grape growing. It is exciting to be the first multiple retailer in the UK to showcase the quality this fascinating country has to offer," he added.

Ritu Viognier is a crisp, aromatic white wine with floral and peach aromas. It is said be well matched with classic spicy dishes - perhaps a Vindaloo.

Ritu, which means 'season' in Sanskrit, has been created by Abhay Kewadkar who is recognised as India's foremost wine maker and has modelled his vineyard near Baramati on a French chateau and will go on sale at a discounted price of 6.99 pounds.

Indian wines set to take Britain by storm - Times of India

Mar 30: This year’s international wine trade fair Prowein, in Düsseldorf, Germany was proof that the wine world is as buoyant as ever, confirmed its position as the number one World Wine Trade Show, based on the presence during the 3 days. This year also marked the first appearance of wines from more ‘exotic’ countries such as India and Brazil, writes our correspondent Maureen Kerleau from Germany.

Prowein stands out by the hugely cosmopolitan nature of the exhibiting countries and visitors. Being at the heart of Europe it attracted visitors from all corners of the continent, including Russia, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, many from Asia and this year an increased number from Northern America and the United Kingdom. There were 3600 exhibitors from over 50 countries and 38,000 visitors during the 3 days-27-29 March.

Being the first major wine event of the year, there is always a certain eagerness to taste the newly released vintages (in particular the Northern hemisphere harvests from autumn 2010).

It was also very important to note the growing number of wineries from every country following the global trend towards wines being produced from sustainable and organic wine growing.

Prowein 2011: Indian Wines Expose Themselves - Indian Wine Academy

Good Earth Winery launched four wines last year and are already being heralded as one of the best Indian wines in the country. Launched under the Concerto Collection, Good Earth Winery has a Cabernet, a Shiraz, a Sauvignon Blanc and a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. For founder Girish Mhatre, introducing quality wines was a passion backed by a lot of research. “I was a passionate amateur when it came to wine. It was passion which egged me further to study wines. And during all of this research the one thing that kept coming back to me is that India did not have quality wines,” he says. Hopes weren't lost, he says while he did not see quality wines from India, he also found a few other passionate people who were investigating wines from India which could in the future be also imported. “These have to be wines which are essentially Indian and will allow India to be recognised as a wine producing region,” Mhatre says.

Today Indian wines on a global platform seem like an oxymoron which just goes to show the tremendous room for improvement, the opportunities that are here as well as abroad. For Mhatre, one of the biggest milestones was when he met fellow wine afficionado and an oenologist Dr Rajesh Rasal, the two hit it off instantly. Dr Rasal has been working on Indian wines for 10 years now, and today is the winemaker for Good Earth Winery. “Not only did Dr Rasal have the technical know-how to work under Indian environments but we also shared the same passion and philosophy,” Mhatre describes the association.

Mhatre has some striking observations on the Indian wine producing scenario, and the decisions that he has taken for Good Earth as a company stem from them. According to him, there is a situation of overcapacity; Nasik itself has three times the capacity in comparison to the national consumption. “This overcapacity is endemic to the future of this industry,” he adds.

Keeping this overcapacity in mind, Mhatre chose to have a virtual winery. “We have taken on lease the capacity from existing wineries,” he says. This has been a better option as they did not have to invest in the entire set-up allowing them to reach the consumer faster. “We were able to pick up the best practices and utilise them to our advantage. This allowed us to spend more time on real life market test of our wines and see the potential first hand,” he adds. Mhatre is sure that with this strategy in place the winery can attempt to match the production capacity according to the market conditions.

A wave of change - Express Hospitality

Meet internationally-renown Indian Chef/Television Personality Sanjeev Kapoor over a special dinner at Indique Heights for the launch of his first cookbook in America.

Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor is the host of “Khana Khazana”—the longest running television show in the world, currently on air since 1993, which is seen by over 500 million viewers around the worldwide.  Chef Kapoor is also one of the leading culinary figures in India, and his empire includes award-winning Indian restaurants of five different concepts in India, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

How to Cook Indian , over a festive dinner at Indique Heights hosted by Chef K.N. Vinod.  Not only is Chef Vinod the owner/proprietor of Washington, DC area’s fine Indian restaurants, Indique and Indique Heights , he is also a longtime friend and senior colleague of Chef Kapoor since their days together at the Ashok Group of Hotels.

How to Cook Indian , which will be presented buffet-style in elegant umbrella-topped food carts invoking a festive market of street vendors, from a chaat stall, tandoor/tawa station, curry station, vegetarian specialties, and dessert station—each serving at least 4-5 dishes.  Accompanying the abundance of delicious food will be signature cocktails from Indique Heights, wines from India’s Nashik Valley by Good Earth Winery, as well as a talk by Chef Kapoor and a signed copy of his book.

Festive Fine Indian Dining with Celebrity Chef Sanjeev Kapoor at Indique ... - CultureMob (blog)